Portfolio 5 - How is capsaicin, the hot in jalapeno, used...

How is capsaicin, the hot in jalapeno, used medically? Does knowing this change your lunch choices? It is used medically to relieve pain in people, with many different symptoms. On the web it lists many different ways on how it is applied and for what condition, but I will not go into that, rather I will discuss what has been its general uses medically over time. Capsaicin is used in creams and ointments for people with pain/inflammation, and sometimes so that it will numb an area so that the person will not itch. Capsaicin creams numb the area where they are applied, because of a receptor for capsaicin that is also the same receptor for pain. This receptor TRVP1 usually opens around 35-47 degrees Celsius, but with capsaicin it opens that receptors earlier and faster, making them fire over and over again, depleting substance P, which is also used in neurons for pain communication. When capsaicin depletes this substance, then pain can't be transmitted very efficiently. So when people usually use capsaicin based creams, they usually experience pain when they put

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